ethics

I think that the way that I act is mostly affected by the people I'm around. I remember reading "The Social Me" in Mr. Priest's class last year that dealt with this kind of idea. Ever since i read that piece, the ideas have stuck out in my head as the only way to explain my actions towards people. When I'm around people that are higher up than me, such as a teacher or adult, I tend to, believe it or not, not talk as much. I think things through because I know they have more power over me. Around friends and family I'm more open and say whatever is on my mind. I feel that no matter what I say the person I'm talking to won't put me into a place I don't want to be in. Around people like cops or other authority members that I'm not completely fond of is when I'm at my worst. My body shuts down and for some reason I stutter. Being around these people puts me into a terrible state where I can't think because I know that whatever I say has to be perfect or I'm screwed. What the short writing said was true, no matter how hard we try to not act to best suit the people we're around, we'd still be acting like we don't care. This way of showing how I react to people is odd but seems to be best explanation of why I act the way that I act around people

english freakin b

What does a school mean?
Does it mean waking up at 6:37 sharp, lying down for 5 more minutes, and coming to your senses and making your way to the shower?
Does it mean driving to school with all the slow traffic and worthless school zones that make life almost unbearable?
Maybe school means getting to the last class and realizing you have to run at least 3 miles after; out in the cold; and maybe the rain.
Possibly ohhh possibly, maybe school is getting in your car right after running and sticking to the seats while you try and cool the car that's been cooking up since the beginning of the day.
School is all of these to me.
but once it does end you realize that home is the place you can finally get to, a place that has the perfect temperature where you don't stick to the seats, where you go and take a long nap to makeup for the terrible morning, where you do your homework but mainly live off of ichat.
Home can never be like school.

hughes and mckay

An obvious fact about both of the poets is that they both compare the white and black races to each other. Another item of business that both authors felt they needed to address was what life was like back in Africa and how it compares to here. Though they both discuss these things, they go about it a different way. Claude Mckay uses sonnets to convey his message to the people in order to show a sense of high class. Sonnets are the same form of writing Shakespeare did, which is why that type of writing was looked upon so highly. Langston Hughes didn’t really stick to form of writing and didn’t really focus on making sure it rhymed or not. Both of the authors both had different messages in addition to the difference in how they conveyed their messages. Mckay talked about how the black race was basically better than the white race. The black race can do all of the things that the white people do but they choose not to; they choose to be the better people because they feel that fighting back would just continue a horrible cycle. Langston, on the other hand, said that blacks and whites trying to live together at all is just a lost cause. He thinks that it’s worthless trying to force these two races to live together when clearly both of the races hate each other. He feels sort of the same way DuBois felt about the African Americans. Both DuBois and Hughes felt that the blacks should just start a new community because the two races will never be able to live together in harmony.

Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington wrote, “The Atlanta Exposition Address” in order to help the slaves decide on whether it was best to stay where they are in the south, or seek better respect and freedom from the north. It seems that Washington was leaning towards the slaves staying in the south, even though the north would sound like a much better place to be in. The south may have a lot more racism, but there are just so many jobs in the south that the slaves would need to stay there for the south to survive. This seems to be the main reason as to why Washington would want the slaves to stay down there. Without them, the entire south economy would fall and the slaves would probably be the ones blamed for this. In the north, the slaves would have more opportunities and rights though the economy there may too fall if they all rush towards it. There are only so many jobs in the north and too many slaves migrating there would destroy what the north already has going for it. Washington is thinking more about he future and he knows that in time the south will become like north. The slaves just need to “offer up their buckets” to the people in the south and in time they will fill the buckets with everything the newly freed slaves would need.

Venture and Equiano

There were many differences and similarities in the stories about the two slaves, Venture Smith and Equiano. The main difference between the two would be the way each of then told their stories. Venture Smith sort of skipped over most of the bad things in his life and just focused on what life was like as a free man. He told stories of how he found his family and had to pay to get them. This was greatly different than the way that Equiano told his story. Equiano used just about every detail he could to show the reader just how horrible it was that a person would ever have to be put through what he got put through. As discussed earlier, a reason for this was probably because of who was telling each story. Equiano’s story was told by himself, which means that everything that he wants to convey he can make sure first hand that it’s added to his piece. Venture Smith on the other hand could not read and write. This means that his story was told by him but transcribed by what was probably a white man. The only reason that this could be a bad thing was that Venture Smith was trying to tell a story of how bad the white men treated him and the other slaves. If a white man if writing this story, chances are that he’s going to skip over the bad things that Venture would talk about and only talk about the parts that didn’t involve the white men. This is exactly how Venture’s story came out because he basically skipped over how horrible the boat ride was and most of the details on his kidnapping but kept in great detail everything that happened post slavery. In Equiano’s story, he talks about how horrible everything was using every detail he can to get the message across. His message was aimed at the white people who did this to him, which is probably why his message was more explicit. The endings of the two stories also differ greatly. In Venture’s story, he sets out and tries to buy his family back out of slavery and also some other slaves along the way. In Equiano’s story, we get the ending of him trying to abolish slavery all together. It seems as though Equiano’s has more value to it only because he just wants everyone to be equal, while Venture Smith is sort of buying into slavery when you think about it. He’s basically paying for people’s freedom, while Equiano is saying that people should just be free and that they shouldn’t have to buy their freedom from people.

Each of these three pieces of writing used forms of writing and ideas that some of the other pieces we’ve read have. One thing that really stuck out for me was the use of repetition in each of the writings. Just like in previous writings, two of these songs used repetition to make sure that the point of the song was showed. The repetition gave the main idea more meaning and made the message stick with the reader. Another thing that one of the songs, We Shall Overcome, did was convey the message of hope and freedom, just like some of the other pieces we’ve read. We read a couple of pieces that talked about how the people believed that some day they will be free and all that they have to do is keep believing that someday that will happen. This is exactly what this song did and its main message was that someday we shall all be free. The song Strange Fruit did a great job of comparing the hanging of black people to fruit on trees. What the author seemed to do was created a hidden meaning that said that the way that black people are being treated is just like how we treat fruit, but in a much worse way. This song compared to a couple of writings we read that used metaphors to show the message they wanted to tell. One last thing that the poem Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round did was telling the message that nothing should keep you down. It was saying that no matter what may get in the way you should always keep marching, which is what most of the pieces we’ve read discussed

John Henry Comparison

I would have to say that there is little that is similar between the pieces Ballards and the other two songs by NAS. Ballards was more of a story with hope in the beginning that John would beat the white man in a race. The beginning gave a somewhat sense of happiness (or at least happier than the NAS songs). In the end however John beats him but still ends up dead. The tragic ending is the only connection I could really make between the two pieces of writing. Nas created songs about what a hard life it is and what surrounds them. There is some sense of hope in the songs because some of them discuss how things are really bad, but they could be a lot worse. Nas also made you feel like the “main character” in the songs was basically on their own. The character didn’t have anyone supporting them or cheering them on through the hardships that he or she faced. Ballards on the other hand made the reader feel as if they weren’t alone and that people were there to support them and do anything. It seems as if NAS is trying to show us how hard life is when you’re living on the streets with bums outside of where you sleep. I felt that Ballards was trying to tell the story of what happened to John, but didn’t try to show us what a hard life he had. The piece did however end on John beating the white man but still dying, sadly due to his own actions.